This invention relates to a method and apparatus for collecting and compacting waste material. More particularly, this invention relates a method and apparatus for collecting and compacting waste material such as household garbage, trash or the like within a container operable to be carried by a motorized vehicle.
In the past the task of residential trash collection has been typically performed by a team of two or three men utilizing a rear loading container mounted upon a truck chassis.
One type of previously known trash container may be generally described as being rectangular in cross section and fixedly mounted upon a truck chassis. A charging or loading trough is fashioned at the rear of the container to receive loose trash or pliable containers such as trash bags and the like. A hydraulically actuated gate is then designed to engulf the waste material deposited within the loading trough and scoop or push the material into the container for compaction against the front end wall thereof.
Another type of previously known apparatus entails a trash container which is circular in cross section and rotatably mounted upon a truck chassis. Of the rotatably mounted containers, one design which exhibits considerable appeal is disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,795 of common assignment with the subject application. In this patent a charging opening at the rear end of the container is disclosed with a shell-shaped baffle disposed inwardly of the opening. Refuse or solid waste material is introduced through the opening and falls downwardly into a space defined by the shell-shaped member and the container end wall. A series of ribs or flanges are mounted upon the interior of the container wall and upon rotation of the container serve to lift refuse introduced into said opening up and around the shell-shaped member. The refuse then falls downwardly onto the shell-shaped member, which, due to its configuration, deflects and directs the materials toward the closed end of the container. Although such a rotatable container exhibits many advantages one disadvantage is that the shell-shaped member is subject to frictional wear as waste is loaded into the container.
A significant step in prolonging the operating life of rotatable waste material containers is disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 432,226 also of common assignment with the subject application. In this structure the shell-shaped member is replaced with a freely rotatable discoid element. As waste material is lifted over the end wall and into the container it falls downwardly onto the discoid element which imparts a rotational movement thereto. Such rotational movement minimizes frictional contact between the solid waste materials and the end wall. In addition to the discoid element this application discloses a helical vane or screw affixed along the interior surface of the container. Upon rotation of the container waste material therein tends to be translated toward the forward, closed end thereof.
Although waste material containers, such as previously described, are highly useful and exhibit marked advancements in the state of the art, room for further improvement remains. More specifically it would be highly desirable to provide a method and apparatus for collecting and compacting waste material which will reduce the number of cycles to a central dumping area and thus increase the efficiency and decrease the cost of a collection operation. In a similar vein, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for collecting and compacting waste material which will retain the advantages of the previously described devices while reducing interstitial voids within the waste material as the container is packed out.
It would also be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for collecting and compacting waste material which would facilitate loading and use by operators. Further, it would be desirable to provide a method and apparatus for collecting and compacting waste material operable to reduce large items as said items are deposited within said collecting apparatus.